Jul 24 Article 1: The Better Deal

On Monday, top Democrats gathered in Berryville, VA, to deliver their awesome new pitch, called "A Better Deal." Among the stated goals of this new campaign were, "improving wages, lowering costs of everyday expenses, and boosting job-training opportunities." Sen. (D-NY) Chuck Schumer, Sen. (D-MA) Elizabeth Warren, and House Minority Leader (D-CA) Nancy Pelosi were included in this group. How do the Democrats propose to achieve these goals? By redistribution and regulation.

They aren't shy about it either. The "plan" for lowering everyday costs falls under the umbrella of more regulation, in the form of "changes to antitrust laws," to "prevent mergers from possibly resulting in increased prices," and a "consumer competition advocate," to help "crack down on anti-competitive behavior." Sounds expensive and unnecessary. How about removing existing regulations and promoting free-market principles, which naturally allow for smaller businesses to engage in trade, driving up competition, and lowering prices? Nope. Let's increase regulation, causing the cost to own and operate a business to increase, ultimately driving smaller companies out of the marketplace, incentivizing mergers, decreasing competition, and driving up prices! Then, let's blame evil "capitalism" and "free markets" for the fallout, and sell those consumers being "taken advantage of," on the idea that more regulation is the answer... Excuse me while I burn the leftist playbook I just pulled that from...

Moving on. Let's take a peek at what the Dems say they will do on the job-creation front. They pledge to "create" 10 million jobs by "doubling federal support (tax dollars) for registered apprenticeship programs, giving tax credits to companies that train new workers and expand partnerships between businesses and schools." I love how this counts as "job creation," according to the left. Job creation actually takes place when private citizens start businesses, and hire employees to perform the work. Sounds like incentivizing more individuals to take risks, invest in businesses, and hire employees would be a sound policy. Removing the red tape, costly licensing, permits, and other forms of regulatory vampirism would reduce operating costs, allowing owners to raise wages (merit-based), and pass on additional savings to consumers! Instead, the left wants to take from those who are producing, and give to those who aren't. This will simply add another entitlement program, promising to drain from working Americans' capital, and refill the inefficient engines of those who are "entitled." The "entitled" aren't simply made up of "underprivileged" individuals, no, businesses can jump on this bandwagon, as well! Tax credits essentially shift the burden from one individual, or company, to another. The company that plays by the rules will get a "credit," no doubt paid for by others. The jobs "created" by leftist policies are built on the backs of working-class America, as well as those evil "rich folks," who have the ability to actually "create" jobs.

This brings us to the final promise, and one truly rooted in a kind of evil, known as socialism. The idea of raising the minimum wage has been a fiercely debated one. Democrats have continued to buy into and push this idea that forcing business owners to pay workers more, will be a net benefit for the average worker. Sounds excellent, right? The city of Seattle, in Washington, recently "experimented" with raising the minimum wage to $15. Why don't we check on how close this has brought them to utopia? A Forbes article, written on June 21st, informs us exactly how close. The article brought to light the findings of an unbiased research team, from the University of Washington, who concluded that average wages did increase, however, fewer individuals now held these jobs, than before. Also, those who did work, ended up working fewer hours. By my count, that sounds like the average worker came out worse off. Why not try the novel idea of allowing the market to determine a worker's value? Let a person's skills, and application of those skills, propel them up the ladder toward a better life. Don't give everyone a participation trophy, but allow everyone the freedom to get out what they put in.

Democrats continue to claim that growth, opportunity, and prosperity comes from simply "giving" something to someone. They have never pointed to a governmental system, functioning with their policies, which has experienced the kind of growth that built this country, throughout the 19th and most of the 20th centuries. We are told "The Better Deal" is to steal from those who work for their own, and allow elitist bureaucrats, whose chief concern is remaining in power, to decide where best to spend society's capital. Once again, we only need to consult our own history to see the "American Deal." The American Deal is the deal of freedom, our founders fought and died for, again and again. The freedom from overarching governmental rule, which truly stands in the way of opportunity, freedom, and prosperity. When we remember the exciting prospect of a life free from government oppression, we must never forget that with the freedom to succeed, comes the freedom to fail. Personal responsibility has been all but abolished, in this current iteration of our country, by way of the ever rising sea of entitlement programs. Personal responsibility will need to be rediscovered and preached, and individuals will suffer for their poor decisions. I dream of the American Deal, which clears the way for Americans to help other Americans... Not because they are forced to, but because they want to. Freedom is the "Better Deal," and I'm not entirely sure the Republican establishment is on board with that, but Conservative America is ready to support a policy of freedom, when our leaders are ready to relinquish that power.

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